Tony Horton Of P90X: Fitness Interview

The New Training Program From P90X Is Coming

When P90X came out a couple years ago, we were converts. Now the makers of the program are getting ready to release P90X2, which is designed for guys who are already in pretty good shape but who want to push their strength and agility to limits they never thought they could reach. Needless to say, we're pretty excited to try it out.

According to our sneak preview, P90X2 builds upon the theory of "muscle confusion" that made the first edition such an incredibly effective program for losing weight and building strength. This time around, the program employs "Post-Activation Potentiation" (P.A.P.), developed by Dr. Marcus Elliot, founder of the Peak Performance Project, an elite training facility where some of the world's foremost athletes work out.

P90X2's new P.A.P. program uses a combination of traditional resistance training and total-body plyometrics, which works your muscles into firing faster and stronger, translating into more explosive strength.

Whereas P90X was a six-day-per-week program, the next level has you training five days a week, because the increased intensity requires more of a rest period.

We can't tell you much more than this, but we can assure you that pre-orders will be delivered in time for the holidays. You can pre-order at P90X2.com. In honor of this major release in personal fitness, here's an interview that one of our editors conducted with P90X creator Tony Horton.

p90x creator tony horton

Everyone is skeptical when it comes to fitness trends, especially those presented on late-night infomercials, especially ones that claim to be (and are) the No. 1 infomercial in the country. When something is so popular, AskMen feels obligated to put the product through the wringer. So, for the 90 days required to complete P90X we put our nose to the grindstone for your benefit, which is to report the truth to men.

Does Tony Horton’s P90X work? Honestly, that’s your decision, but this editor lost a total of 25 pounds, 4.5 inches off my waist and 10% body fat. Did I have the weight to lose? Hell yes I did. But I still had doubts as to whether or not I was the “ideal” candidate for P90X since it wasn’t developed as a weight-loss program — “it’s a lifestyle-shifting program.” When I expressed my doubts to Tony Horton and told him about my minimal activity and poor eating habits prior to P90X, he expressed to me that P90X is a “50-50 equation” where activity and nutrition are concerned. “P90X works for anybody really.”

P90X comes with explicit instructions about your training, an in-depth nutrition plan that can get pretty expensive, and there are hidden costs behind just the DVDs you order (you have to buy home gym equipment and optional protein powder and bars). While doing P90X some questions came up, some of which Tony answered for us.

tony horton on p90x skeptics

"I think there’s skepticism because it’s a philosophy that is atypical. When it comes to approaching fitness, people want to master something and so this amount a variety typically is not a mentality that a lot of professional fitness folks take. They like to stick to the same old thing: Do cardio a certain way and get good at it, do yoga and get really good at it. I’m trying to avoid boredom, plateaus and injuries. We have different demographics [doing P90X]: We have people who are not in shape and we have ex-athletes that are looking to become better athletes, and oddly enough the combination of different types of exercises seems to work for both. Jerry Stackhouse just came out of retirement and he was doing P90X to get ready — and he’s knocking people over with how fit he is. How can you be skeptical about that? If you’re skeptical, you’re not very bright."

on p90x and comparable products

"[P90X] is relatively hard, there’s an excitement about it, it brings out the best in people, it brings out their deep desires to want to be better because of a combination of things, [like] muscle confusion and new movements. A piece of machine, like a Total Gym or something, is probably very effective if you do what they tell you to do, but it doesn’t have any personality, there’s not a camaraderie there that you feel when you’re watching people who are working hard on the screen in front of you."

Tony Horton talks about P90X starting points and about success and failure…

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